Man who forced federal judge off case is heading to prison

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who has a federal judge removed from his counterfeiting case after saying he used heroin with members of the judge’s family is heading to prison.

Thirty-one-year-old Eric Ramey was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in federal prison. The Orrville man was indicted last year on charges he used counterfeit money in 2013. He pleaded guilty in May.

John Adams, a federal judge in Akron, was forced to step aside from the case after Ramey wrote in a petition to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he used heroin and opiates with the judge’s brother and nephew every day for 14 months.

Adams refused to recuse himself, but the appeals court intervened and forced the judge off the case.